Israel-Iran latest: Ayatollah speaks on Israel strikes as one dead and dozens injured in bus stop ‘attack’
Israeli police investigating incident as a terror attack
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Iran’s supreme leader has said Israel’s attack “should not be exaggerated nor downplayed”, while stopping short of calling for retaliation.
The remarks from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday are the latest suggesting Iran is carefully weighing its response to the attack.
“It is up to the authorities to determine how to convey the power and will of the Iranian people to the Israeli regime and to take actions that serve the interests of this nation and country,” said Khamenei, who has the final say over all major decisions in Iran.
Israel claimed the attack, launched in three waves in the early hours of Saturday, was a “precise and targeted” response to the Iranian missile attack on the country on 1 October.
The comments come as one person was killed and dozens injured after a truck rammed into a bus stop at a major intersection near Tel Aviv on Sunday, in what police said they suspected was a terrorist attack.
The Israeli military, meanwhile, killed at least 36 Palestinians in a series of attacks in Gaza on Sunday, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
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UN chief Guterres says escalation in Middle East must stop
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has condemned the escalation between Israel and Iran and called for an end to all military action in the region following Israeli strikes on military sites near Tehran.
His comments come after US President Joe Biden said that he hoped that the Israeli strikes against Iran are at an end.
Iran’s foreign ministry has issued a statement saying that it is “entitled and obligated to defend itself”.
Iran has no limits in defending itself, foreign minister is quoted as saying
Iran has no limits when it comes to defending its interests, its territorial integrity and its people, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Saturday, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
He was speaking after Israel bombed military sites in Iran in the early hours of Saturday, a retaliation for an Iranian attack on Israel earlier this month.
Recap: Everything we know about Israel’s attack on Iran
Israel has launched air strikes on military targets inside Iran in retaliation for an Iranian missile attack earlier this month.
Iran’s foreign ministry has said that the country has a right to defend itself “against external aggressive acts”.
Here’s what else we know so far:
Everything we know about Israel’s attack on Iran
Iran has said the country has a right to defend itself after Israeli strikes
German Chancellor: ‘This has to stop now’
German chancellor Olaf Scholz has called on Iran not to retaliate against Israel’s strikes, saying: “My message to Iran is clear: such massive escalatory responses cannot go on forever”.
He added: “This has to stop now and presents an opportunity for a peaceful development in the Middle East. A ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the hostages are important to this end. I call on all parties to do just this.”
Mr Scholz added in a statement on social media platform X: “The same goes for Lebanon. UN Resolution 1701 continues to be the benchmark for the conduct of all those involved. We expect Hezbollah to pull back to positions behind the Litani River, thereby facilitating a peaceful development also here.”
Flight paths show cancelled flights over Iran
Photo taken early on Saturday shows how commercial flights were forced to avoid Iran after Israel carried out strikes on military targets in the country.
Iran suspended all flights on Saturday following the attack.
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